Before Taking Your Temperature Don't Eat Or Drink

Apparently if you eat hot or cold food before taking your temperature, the results may not be as accurate as possible!

Now you may say, "Hey that's obvious!" Indeed, even the press release for this breakthrough says (somewhat self-consciously...),

According to recent research by nurses at the University of Virginia Health System, your mother was always right when she told you not to eat or drink anything before taking your temperature.

And since basically in their own press release they start out saying "Uh oh, we're so busted. There's a good chance this will make News that Vexes!", they then attempt some spin control by trying to justify the research:

"It's something that comes up in our practice on a regular basis," said Tricia Jenkins, RN, a member of the research team. "Nurses take temperatures several times a day, every day, so the research proposition was really applicable."

Note it took a research team to come up with this conclusion.

I really must quote a bit more from the press release because it's just so rich:

As the first research examining the effects of beverage consumption on the accuracy of oral electronic thermometers, the nurses' findings were presented recently at the annual Academy of Medical Surgical Nurses Convention in Las Vegas. Previous research on the topic used only men as research subjects [testing only men leaves the door open for further study with women subjects! -ed.] and tested oral temperature with mercury-filled thermometers. "It's great to say we can make a change in practice," Quatrara said. "It's always best to provide patient care based on evidence rather than guessing at it."

Yay, no more guessing that hot water makes your mouth hot and ice cubes make your mouth cold! You may thank Beth Quatrara, RN, MSN, APRN for these revelations! I hope she enjoyed her free trip to Las Vegas to present this data!

Patients may see scary lights during eye surgery

Hmmm. Could the scary lights be LASERS beaming into your eyeball? Actually the answer is 'no.' The real story is even better:

Patients who are awake while undergoing surgery on the gel-like vitreous inside the eye often report seeing frightening lights ... a new study shows. As a result, many patients say they would opt for general anesthesia the next time around.

Indeed, this new report indicates patients do not want to be awake while surgeons are operating on their eyeballs! Furthermore:

A frightening visual experience is clinically significant because "it may lead to side effects that could complicate the surgery, such as increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and fast breathing."

Huh? It almost sounds like seeing a scalpel cutting into your eyeball could make you nervous!

And last and most audacious of all:

"A frightening visual experience is also likely to decrease patients' satisfaction with the surgery."

This amazing research brought to us by Dr. Colin S. H. Tan of the Eye Institute at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore. Sadly I couldn't find his email to send him some congratulations on this research that was published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Cutting calories, portion sizes may really work:

Shockingly, if you eat less, you gain less weight. This may be old news to you, savvy reader of News That Vexes. Also, if you eat foods that are lower in fat, you will gain less weight. BUT, did you know that if you eat less food and eat lower calorie foods, you will lose weight?

"women took in the fewest calories when they practiced both, the study found."

WOW! Plus this article is also chock-full of incredible facts like:

A pound of broccoli, for instance, has far fewer calories than a pound of chocolate.

Of course, all this research will have to be repeated, since only women were studied. We're still completely in the dark about men!

Thanks, Dr. Barbara J. Rolls from Penn State!

Two bits of distressing news - news that vexes in fact:

Got a cough? Doctors say over-the-counter syrup doesn't work

The doctors at the American College of Chest Physicians:

"Cough syrups may suppress a cough a little bit. But they don't treat the underlying cause," said Dr. Michael Alberts, a Tampa pulmonologist who is president of the physician group. "They won't make you better any faster."Another option that some doctors recommend: Just tough it out, because colds typically go away on their own.

Are you for real Dr. Alberts (whose email I couldn't track down so I'm asking rhetorically)?? It's not called "Cold Curing Syrup", it's called Cough Syrup. Even Dr. Alberts admits it works to suppress a cough and hey, that's why I took it in the first place. Whatever you do, don't take my Nyquil away!

Next up:

Prostate cancer test may leave men even worse off

Oh man, this doesn't help. It seems that neither the PSA test nor the DRE reduce prostate cancer deaths:

A study in the US suggests that the prostate specific antigen (PSA) test, when used to screen healthy men with no symptoms of the disease, does not reduce deaths.

A positive result often causes anxiety and leads men to have a painful biopsy. If this, too, proves positive they may have a prostate operation that can leave them impotent and incontinent — without ever being sure that they needed it.

Doctors should stop worrying about cough syrup and start concentrating on cancer! Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men.